Hungry for Hungary Paprika makes the heart of tasty Eastern European cuisine

Ask Ilona Lucza, 61, of Levant what’s good about Hungarian food and she will say, “Tasty, tasty.” But it goes beyond taste because what snags you even before you can get a fork to your mouth is the homey blend of aromas and the earthy color of the food she sells every Saturday at the European Farmers Market in Bangor.

Arrayed on a tablecloth brightly printed with a vegetable motif, Lucza, who grew up near Budapest, offers what she calls “the main food of Hungary,” including stuffed cabbage, stuffed green peppers, paprikash – sauerkraut, chicken, beef, pork or veal – spinach (with homemade noodles), mushroom or bean soup, pickled beets, walnut or poppyseed coffee cake and strudel.

When customers stop by, Luzca ladles portions from big pots into plastic takeout containers. She said she cooks on a gas stove and one of her favorite tools is a wooden spoon.

Cabbage, potatoes, peppers, tomatoes and onions, those versatile staples of the vegetable world, are the main ingredients of Lucza’s cooking, giving it a hearty texture. Instead of potatoes, some of the paprikash dishes contain pasta. Pasta entered the realm of Hungarian cookery when King Matthias, 1458-1490, married his third wife, Beatrice of Aragon, the daughter of King Ferdinand I of Naples, Italy.

An important element in Hungarian cooking, Lucza said, is paprika. Paprika, a spice derived from red peppers, is the main flavor in Hungarian cuisine. The flavor can range from sweet to hot but, Lucza said, her paprikash is “moderate in spiciness.”

Paprika appeared in the lexicon of Hungarian cooking in the 17th century when the first pepper plants arrived in Hungary, perhaps introduced by ethnic groups from Balkan countries. In 1879, French chef Auguste Escoffier introduced paprika to western European cuisine.

Paprika is used simply to garnish food to give it a lovely, earthy red-orange color or as a flavor. Paprika releases its color and flavor only when it is heated. If it burns it will turn brown and have a bitter flavor.

Lucza has cooked most of her life. All her recipes are “in my head,” she said, and many are the same ones her mother and grandmother used. In her younger years in Hungary, before she and her family emigrated to the United States 20 years ago, she was a cook at an elementary school.

Although Lucza did not grow up in a rural area, Josef, her husband of 45 years, is from a farming and winemaking family.

“I have a very good husband,” she said. On their farm in Levant, they garden, raise sheep as a hobby and chickens for eggs.

The Luczas have been vendors at the market for about a year and a half.

The European Farmers Market got its start in 1995, said owner Rick Gilbert. In 1989 he and his business partner Ingrid Perkins made a trip to Budapest, where they visited a food marketplace in an old train station. Gilbert was dazzled by the idea and thought they could transport the concept to Bangor and feature the many tastes and varieties of Maine food. Currently, the market offers, besides Lucza’s Hungarian food, Romanian, Vietnamese, Greek and Mexican food, and fallow deer venison, rabbit, maple syrup, kettle corn, bread, ravioli, pastries and organically raised beef and poultry.

“It took us five years to organize it,” Gilbert said of the market. He credits Bob Bowen of Sunset Acre Farms in Brooklin with making contact with the 21 vendors who sell their food there each week.

“It’s [the market] the best kept secret in Bangor,” said Moe Fer, who visits the market every Saturday, as he has done for several years.

“You can come here and talk to friends, socialize, exchange recipes and try a few samples,” Gilbert said.

Ilona Lucza’s cooking is available only at the market. Her menu varies from week to week, she said. She, like most of the other vendors, offers samples. Her prices are moderate, ranging from $3 for a single bowl to $10 for a larger portion.

To learn more about the European Farmers Market, call Rick Gilbert at 947-8464. To learn more about Hungarian cooking, visit your local public library or search the Web. To learn more about paprika, visit www.culinarycafe.com or www.soupsong.com.

The European Farmers Market is held year-round, Saturdays, 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m. The market, housed in Sunnyside Florists and Greenhouses, is at 117 Buck Street in Bangor. Ardeana Hamlin can be reached at 990-8153, or ahamlin@bangordailynews.net.